Harry Potter and the Stunning Spell
by Joey-Da-Gal
Summary: Malfoy has been brought back from the death eaters but Harry's friends are not happy. Especially when one of their friends gets seriously hurt and Malfoy is the prime suspect.
1. Arrival at Hogwarts

Harry sat, lost in thought, on the Hogwarts Express. He had not planned to return to Hogwarts but since over the summer he had been successful in destroying all the horcruxes he thought it best to learn more and wait for Voldemort to find him.

Hogwarts had not employed a new head teacher but instead a group of teachers had come together to lead the school together. They hoped that they would soon be able to choose a permanent head but Harry thought it was unlikely, nobody at the school had the same qualities as Dumbledore.

As Harry sat there, bored, Tonks and Lupin rushed over to him.

"Hello Harry," said Lupin, "We have come to tell you something, shall we go somewhere private or are we Ok here?"

Harry looked around the compartment. In it were Ginny, Neville and Luna. (Hermione and Ron were in the front with the prefects.)

"Yeah, it's fine to say it here, take a seat."

Tonks walked to sit opposite Ginny and Lupin took a seat opposite Harry.

"Ok," Lupin began, "On the order of Professor McGonnagall and the other head teachers we were sent one month ago to get Malfoy back. We were told if he wanted to come with us then we should take him and protect him and his family. If he did not we had to leave him."

"WHAT!" shouted Ginny, angrily. "He doesn't deserve help!"

"It wasn't our decision Ginny," Tonks told her, "If you want more answers you need to go and talk to Professor McGonnagal."

"Well that is what we'll do then!" said Neville, surprisingly confidently.

"I'm going to go and find the food trolley," Harry told them and stood up and walked out through the doors. He walked aimless down the train. He didn't really know what to think. He hated Malfoy for what he had done to Dumbledore but Harry had been there that night. He saw and heard Malfoy and as he thought back on it knew that Malfoy was never going to kill Dumbledore. If he had been going to he would have done so straight away, not wait around, scared.

"Harry," said a wistful voice behind him. He turned round to see Luna Lovegood walking towards him. "I think they were right to bring Malfoy back here, you do to, don't you Harry."

Luna did not say this as a question nor did she say it forcefully she just stated it as a fact.

Harry smiled at her, not knowing how to reply.

"He went with them, didn't he," she went on. "If he had wanted to stay with Voldemort, and Snape, he could have done."

"I know what you mean," he replied because she was basically summing up what he was thinking. "I still think I'll be keeping an eye on him though."

Luna said nothing until they reached the snack trolley. Harry had not truthfully set out to find it but now he had he did fancy getting something. He bought a pumpkin pasty for himself and many chocolate frogs. He handed one to Luna who thanked him.

They went back to their compartment where Ginny, Neville, Tonks and Lupin were still sat, watching Tonks transfigure her nose. He shared his chocolate frogs with his friends and managed for what he thought was the first time not to see Malfoy on the train. He asked Lupin about this later and was told that Malfoy had been brought here separately.

The train came to a halt and the passengers sidled out, grabbing luggage and moving towards the doors. Harry managed to catch up with Ron and Hermione in time for them to board the threstrel-driven carriages together. Ginny, Luna and Neville got into the one in front, leaving Hermione, Ron and Harry to have one to themselves. Harry hurriedly told them everything Lupin and Tonks had told him about Malfoy.

"WHAT!" shouted Ron angrily. "That's rubbish!"

"He as good as killed Dumbledore! What if he tries to kill you Harry, this is terrible."

Harry didn't feel like arguing with his two best friends so he merely sat and listened to them.

When the carriage reached Hogwarts the three of them climbed out and walked towards the magnificent building of Hogwarts.

They walked into the entrance hall and then through into the great hall. Harry and his friends took their seats at the Gryffindor table and were greeted cheerfully by Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan.

"Harry! How was your holiday, I've been skiing in the Alps for most of the summer, it was amazing!" Dean called to him.

"Ron, how's Pig, I got an amazing new owl over the summer, my great aunt bought it me, it's called Tweegle." Seamus then said.

"Tweegle, why Tweegle?" Hermione replied.

"I just picked any old name." he answered.

"Really?" Hermione responded, "Did you know that Salazar Slytherin's second cousin twice removed was called Tweegle?"

"No, and I'm not sure many people do," Seamus replied warily

They all took a seat just in time for McGonagall to lead a large line of first years into the hall. She placed a small stool on the ground in front of the teachers table and placed the Sorting Hat upon it.

Harry was shocked to see that the Sorting Hat did not sing a song as normal, merely stated a few rhyming lines.

I am the sorting hat

A lot of you already knew that

I will sort you into your houses

Where you will be as safe as houses

It said, not sung, this in a long, slow monotone, as if all the life had been sucked out of it. Harry knew the feeling.

The first years were sorted into the appropriate houses and about 8 new Gryffindors were chosen. They greeted them with applause but Harry was lost in thought. He was wondering what they would say before the meal. It had been Dumbledore's tradition to 'say a few words' but Harry doubted anyone would even attempt to follow in his shadow.

When it came to them starting the meal all that was said was by Flitwick. This was just a short sentence inviting them to eat. As usual the same delicious and vast variety of foods appeared on the table and everyone helped themselves to everything they could reach. Harry was very aware that this would be the last 'first day back' meal he would have at Hogwarts.

After they had all eaten and the plates had stopped re-filling a collection of teachers stood up.

McGonnagall welcomed them all to a new school year and encouraged them to work hard. Flitwick gave notices about when they would get there timetables and to check their notice boards for news of any clubs. Filch read them a long list of newly banned items and Sprout told they could now leave and asked prefects to guide students safely to their common rooms.

At once there began the very loud sounds of people hurrying to their dormitories and people talking in loud voices. Hermione and Ron had to rush to the front of the Gryffindors to take them to the common room but Harry chose to lag behind at the back of the crowd. He noticed that Patsy was guiding the students out accompanied by a sixth year instead of Malfoy.

As Harry walked into the common room he was greeted by the usual stares and mutters that followed him everywhere, especially on the first few days of term. Harry wondered why they hadn't become disinterested by now. He may have been The Boy Who Lived but he was no longer the person who had defeated Voldemort, at least, not yet.

It occurred to him as he went up to his dormitory that he didn't really know where he stood on the matter of Ginny. He had had to end it with her when he had decided not to come back to Hogwarts. But here he was, did the decision to come back change his reasons for them breaking up? He decided he would have to talk to her as soon as possible.

As usually happened on the first day back he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.


	2. Double Potions

The first post of the new year did not bring any surprises for Harry.

It came in the first breakfast of the new term and brought with it the usual forgotten items for Neville and the Daily Prophet for Hermione. Harry was not brought any post on that day. His insides churned when he remembered the post he used to get from Sirius.

Shortly after the post owls had flown away again Professor McGonnagall, Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick and Professor Slughorn (the house heads) walked round there house tables and handed out the timetables. Harry was pleased to remember that, although he had Double Potions first, he would not be spending it with Snape.

The noise in the hall died down slightly at the arrival of a teenage boy. Draco Malfoy, with the same bleach blonde hair, entered the hall, without his usual smirk. Ginny got up out of her seat two places down from Harry and ran towards the Slytherin table.

She immediately began hurling abuse at him. Malfoy did not, to Harry's amazement, retaliate in anyway, he just went to sit at the Slytherin table beside Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry strolled over towards Ginny and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Come on Ginny, not now," Harry said turning round to face him.

She didn't say anything to him but stopped shouting at Malfoy. Harry did not, unfortunately, catch the look on Malfoy's face but Harry expected he would have been surprised that Harry was defending him. It crossed Harry's mind that Malfoy did not yet know that he had been there when Snape had killed Dumbledore.

Ginny started walking off, back towards the Gryffindor table but Harry caught her hand.

"Ginny," he said, "Can I talk to you?"

"OK," shrugged Ginny and he led her out into the grounds and into the courtyard.

"You know how we stopped dating before the summer, but now I am staying at Hogwarts, I just didn't know how we stood."

Ginny, who had obviously be avoiding this topic shrugged and said, "It is up to you, you are the one that said we should stop going out."

Harry didn't know what to say. The memory of how it had felt asking Cho Chang to the Yule Ball came flooding back. He also remembered the night on which he had first kissed Ginny. His instincts told him that he should kiss her now and he did. She kissed him back and then they walked back together towards there next classes. Ginny had Transfiguration class so they had to part quite soon. He took the kiss to mean that they were back to together and hoped she did as well.

Ron and Hermione were waiting outside the classroom in the potions corridor when Harry found them, discussing Malfoy.

"Do you think he will come to this lesson?" Hermione asked Harry when he strolled over to where they were stood.

"I'm not sure," Harry answered, "If he plans to stay at Hogwarts then he is going to have to come to lessons."

Harry's friends agreed with him and then changed the topic.

"I wonder what Slughorn will be teaching us this year, we learnt some pretty serious stuff last year," Hermione mused.

"I hope he teaches us something easy!" Ron began, "I'm tired of getting P in Potions. Even George got an O."

"At least with Snape gone it's actually fair though, I mean, if Slughorn hadn't started taking this class it would only have been Slytherins who got good marks." Harry said.

Harry was about to continue but stopped when he saw Malfoy walk in to the corridor.

His usual crew sauntered over to him and surrounded him. He looked small, not just compared to Crabbe and Goyle but to compared to everyone. For once the Slytherin crowd was divided into the group surrounding Malfoy (obviously the ones who supported Malfoy and what he had done) and ones slightly up the corridor (who clearly thought what him and his cronies had done was wrong).

Eventually, after many snide comments and harsh abuse thrown at Malfoy and his friends, Slughorn opened the classroom door and encouraged them all in.

They filed in through the doors into the cold, miserable, dark potions classroom.

"Settle down, settle down," said Slughorn cheerfully as he walked past them all and took his place behind the desk. "This year we are going to push the boundaries of magic even further, I will teach you how to save a life with a single drop of potion and how to, as I believe my predecessor Professor Snape told you, brew fame and bottle glory. "This lesson, however we are going to make a very simple healing potion, used to dab on wounds. The prime ingredient is phoenix tears and this potion is the second best thing to carrying your own personal phoenix around with you."

They all got their cauldrons out and went to the store cupboard to collect the ingredients. Harry noticed Malfoy getting several shoves on his way to collect them.

Harry struggled through this potion; wishing he still had the Half Blood Prince's hints to help him (regardless of who there author was).

Harry was not surprised at his fellow pupil's treatment of Malfoy; one thing that did surprise him however was Slughorn. He seemed to be bullying him in a similar way that Snape had used to bully Harry. He refused to give him help, made snide comments whenever possible and was very reluctant even to accept his potion at the end of the lesson, when he finally had taken it Harry saw him scribble a large D on it, without even opening the canister.

Harry left feeling more sorry for Malfoy then he had ever thought he could. He doubted that Hermione and Ron shared his opinion.


	3. Transfiguration class

Chapter 3 – Transfiguration class

Hermione, Ron and Neville left the Dungeons with Harry, heading towards Transfiguration class.

"What do you think Professor McGonnagall will teach us this year?" Hermione wondered aloud, "We should be doing some really advanced transfiguration this year!"

"Oh, great, I can't wait!" replied Ron sarcastically.

"You've got nothing to worry about Ron," Neville added, then in response to a look from Ron, "Compared to me! Did you see me last year when we were transforming owls into chairs. My owl shrunk, replaced it's legs with chair legs and grew a trunk!"

They all burst into fits of laughter and spent the rest of the journey to the Transfiguration classrooms discussing different mistakes they'd all made in Transfiguration.

They arrived just in time, and almost straight after they had got their things out and sat down, McGonnagall walked in and they had to stand back up.

"Good morning class, and welcome to a new term and a new year at Hogwarts school.

I am very pleased to see you all safely back this year.

I do hope that this year you will learn things that will enable you to get the jobs you want and above all to protect yourself.

"However, I regret to inform you that I am not taking you this lesson. Professor Flitwick has kindly stepped in to cover this lesson for me. He will be taking you through the details of the work you'll be doing this year, and I have asked him to set you some work from the textbooks as homework."

There was a slight groan at this last comment but the rest was listened to intently.

Following the end of Professor McGonnagall's welcome, Professor Flitwick trundled in, holding a large pile of books.

"Hello Professor," greeted Flitwick.

"Hello Flitwick, thanks again for agreeing to cover this lesson."

"Not at all Minerva, not at all, it's the least I can do."

"Oh, just before you start, Harry Potter, can I speak to you in my office?"

"Yes, of course Professor." Harry replied, packing up his bag and whispering Goodbye to his friends.

Harry left the classroom and followed Professor McGonnagall down the corridor to her office.

He had been here before and it had not changed much. A password had been installed though, which had not been there before.

"Calculus" whispered McGonnagall.

Harry followed her into her office. She took a seat behind a large walnut table and beckoned him to sit opposite.

"Harry, you may be wondering why I asked you to come here," Professor McGonnagall began, Harry sensed it was a rhetorical question and didn't answer.

"As you know, in the summer, letters were delivered by owl post to every student that would be attending Hogwarts this year, informing them that Hogwarts would not be closed." Harry nodded. "I got a reply from you, informing me that you were not going to return to Hogwarts, but in fact, to go in search of the other "horcruxes" (she whispered this word)

"However, just before term started, I received news from you that you had destroyed 'enough' of the horcruxes to 'justify' yourself coming back to Hogwarts."

"Yes Professor."

"Which ones did you destroy exactly?"

"Well," he began, "As I'm sure you know, there were 6 to begin with (plus Voldemort himself to make 7). The first, his diary was destroyed in my second year. Dumbledore destroyed one himself last year, and we went together to destroy a third.

"Over the summer I set out to destroy the remaining two."

"There should have been four left, minus his soul, leaving you with seven." Professor McGonnagall interrupted.

"Yes Professor, however as I'm sure Dumbledore told you, his theory is that the 6th horcrux is in Nagini, Voldemort's treasured snake. I decided that if I were to attempt to kill Nagini, Voldemort would surely come to kill me straight after. It therefore made sense, to leave killing Nagini until I was properly ready for a fight against Voldemort."

"Very wise Mr Potter, so did you complete the task you set for yourself of destroying the other two horcruxes?"

"I am sorry to say 'No'. I did manage to locate and destroy one of them, the artefact from the Hogwarts founder, Ravenclaw. It was a glove, a gold glove with jewels encrusted on it."

"Well done, well done." McGonnagall congratulated, "May I ask how you went about finding it?"

"Well, Professor, I talked to the head of Ravenclaw house, Professor Flitwick, by owl over the summer. He informed me that one artefact had 'gone missing' roughly 20 years ago. He told me it was a 'jewelled glove' made of gold.

"I presumed that this must be the item that had been made into a horcrux. However at this point I had no idea where to look for it. That is until I received a letter."

"A letter?" Professor McGonnagall looked surprised and curious.

"Yes, I received it by owl, an owl I did not recognise. It had my name on it but there was no address."

"Have you got it with you?" McGonnagall asked.

Harry pulled an old envelope out of his pocket and opened it up to reveal a neat piece of parchment. He handed it to her. She carefully unfolded the paper and then raised it towards her eyes to read it.

It read as follows.

Dear Mr. Potter 

_Word has reached me that you have gone in search of Voldemort's horcruxes in order to destroy them._

_I have some information for you that might help. I know where the jewelled glove from Hufflepuff is hidden. It is hidden on the site of the Dark Lord's first murder. It is in an underground chamber. I do not know what the Dark Lord has buried with it to protect it but I urge you to go and find it and destroy it. _

"Very curious, do you have an ideas as to who it is from?"

"I think it might be from the same person who destroyed the original locket me and Dumbledore went to destroy last year." Harry replied.

"Good, good, I agree," McGonnagall responded. "So did you find it?"

"Yes. I researched and found out where his first murder had been committed. I then travelled to that place. The final obstacle was that it was sealed, just about one centimetre around the outside with a lilac coloured liquid. If touched it was white hot, but when I hit it against the wall it clung like glue. I tried numerous spells but none worked. Then Hermione,"

"Hold on, you took Hermione?" McGonnagall questioned.

"I didn't mean to, Ron and her followed me and refused to leave. I was very glad to have them there. I couldn't have done it without them."

"Very well, I shall talk to them later to congratulate them. Go on."

"Right, yes, Hermione said she had read about the substance. She said the way to get rid of it was to burn it. Me and Ron were very sceptical but she insisted.

"She made a fire and, using the corner of her robe, threw the glove into it. After a long wait the substance around the glove solidified. We put out the fire and took out the glove, it was no longer hot to the touch. We tried hitting it against the wall again and the solid fell off like old paint."

"Well done, what did you do with the glove?"

"I took it to Lupin, Moody and some of the other members of the Order. They sorted it."

"Good, well I'm glad to hear that that is 4 of the seven out of the way. However, you said Mr Potter that you returned to Hogwarts having dealt with a sufficient number of horcruxes to 'justify' you coming back."

"Yes I did say that, and I did nearly not return to go in search of the fifth horcrux. However I realised that I had only managed to get the glove with the help of Ron and Hermione. If I went on to search for the fifth whilst they went back to school I would be sure to fail.

"I have decided then to stay at school but also keep searching for the fifth horcrux. If Dumbledore's assumptions were correct, it is Hufflepuff's cup that will be the fifth horcrux. I just need to find out where it is hidden."

"Yes, of course. I myself will be ready to help you whenever you need my help, and although I cannot speak for the other teachers, I am sure they would say the same. I must urge you though to also keep onto of your school work. This year will determine what jobs you can get in the future, and also, better arm you for any future battles with Voldemort."

"I'll do my best professor, and thank you for your support. Should I return to my class now?"

"No, class will be over in 10 minutes, I'm sure your friend Hermione will be able to fill you in on what you missed. I will ask you though, not to talk about the horcruxes to more than your closest friends, although it is not a secret, I don't want the students not involved to be worried."

"Yes Professor."

"Now. Feel free to go to the Great Hall and start an early lunch. I'll tell your friends to meet you there."

"Thank you, Professor, good bye."

Harry closed the door to McGonnagall's office behind him and walked down to the Great Hall. While Harry had been in her office he had had an idea, maybe it would be wise to restart the D.A. . It would prepare them all, in case the did have to do anymore fighting, like they had had to last year, and also, it might help some of the students to feel less scared about Voldemort having come back to power.

Harry did not have to wait long in the Great Hall before Ron and Hermione joined him there. He put his idea to them straight away.

"I was thinking, we should restart the D.A."

Harry had expected Hermione to be sceptical, and to at some point mention the amount of work they would have this year, but to his surprise she was not.

"Yeah that's a good idea, which age group should we open it for?"

"Well, how about just Year 6 and 7" Ron suggested.

"But we fought off Voldemort in our first year, and a troll! Surely all the years could cope with it." Harry protested.

"Well, how about we have two. One for years 5-7, one for years 1-4?" Hermione suggested smartly.

"How are we going to find the time?" Ron jumped in. "How are we supposed to have time to run to D.A. meetings a week, plus homework, revision, and searching for the horcruxes."

"Well, we can ask for volunteers at the older one to help us lead the younger one, and then if we can't do it some weeks, they can take over. How's that?" reasoned Harry.

"Yes," answered Ron and Hermione in unison.

"That's sorted, I'll see if McGonnagall can get a notice put up in the common rooms, then we can hold a meeting to see who is interested.

Harry then told his two friends about his meeting with their head of house.

After lunch they went to Double Charms. This was just like any other class with nothing out of the ordinary. Harry went to see Professor McGonnagall at the end of the day about the D.A. .


End file.
